AP Alternative Assets, L.P. Informs Investors of Athene’s Sale of Life Business Associated with its Pending Acquisition of

AP Alternative Assets, L.P. Informs Investors of Athene’s Sale of Life
Business Associated with its Pending Acquisition of Aviva USA
Business Wire
GUERNSEY, Channel Islands -- May 1, 2013
Regulatory News:
In connection with AP Alternative Assets, L.P.’s (“AAA”; Euronext Amsterdam:
AAA) holdings in a majority of the equity of Athene Holding Ltd. (“Athene”),
AAA informs investors that Athene today announced the sale of the Aviva USA
life insurance business, which is associated with its pending acquisition of
Aviva USA. Below is the full text of Athene’s press release, and for
additional information regarding Athene, please visit www.athene.com.
__________________________________
ATHENE HOLDING LTD. ANNOUNCES SALE OF LIFE BUSINESS ASSOCIATED WITH ITS
PENDING ACQUISITION OF AVIVA USA
PEMBROKE, BERMUDA, May 1, 2013 – In a transaction contingent upon its pending
acquisition of the U.S. annuity and life insurance operations of Aviva plc
(“Aviva USA”), Athene Holding Ltd. (together with its subsidiaries, “Athene”)
announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell,
through a reinsurance arrangement, Aviva USA’s life insurance business to
Commonwealth Annuity and Life Insurance Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of
Global Atlantic Financial Group. Commonwealth is a Massachusetts domiciled
Insurance and Reinsurance Company rated “A- (stable)” by AM Best.
Aviva USA’s life insurance business had approximately $10 billion of statutory
admitted assets as of December 31, 2012, and includes business written by
Aviva Life and Annuity Company and Aviva Life and Annuity Company of New York.
The sale, which is expected to close later this year, will occur
simultaneously with the closing of the acquisition of Aviva USA by Athene.
“This sale is consistent with Athene’s focus on becoming the leader in the
fixed annuity segment of the retirement savings market,” said Jim Belardi, CEO
of Athene.
Global Atlantic plans to build a local team in Iowa as part of this
acquisition, hiring members of Aviva USA's Iowa-based team, to manage the life
insurance business.
About Athene Holding Ltd.
Athene is a leading provider of products in the retirement savings market.
Athene’s principal subsidiaries include Athene Annuity & Life Assurance
Company and Athene Life Insurance Company, each a Delaware-domiciled insurance
company, Presidential Life Insurance Company, a New York-domiciled insurance
company, and Athene Life Re Ltd., a Bermuda-based reinsurer.
Athene Holding was formed in 2008 to provide solutions to the growing need for
tax efficient savings vehicles to support retiring baby boomers by Jim
Belardi, formerly President of SunAmerica Life Insurance Company and Chief
Investment Officer of AIG Retirement Services, Inc. and Chip Gillis, former
head of Bear Stearns’ Insurance Solutions Group. Athene is funded by investors
managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO). The
products offered by Athene include:
*Retail fixed and equity indexed annuity products
*Institutional products, such as funding agreements
*Reinsurance arrangements with third party annuity providers
Athene had approximately $14 billion of assets and $2 billion of equity
capital at December 31, 2012.^1
Further information about our companies can be found at www.athene.com.
About Global Atlantic
Global Atlantic Financial Group is a global financial services holding company
that has $1.75 billion of equity, more than $15 billion in assets and
approximately 200 employees with offices in Bermuda, New York, Massachusetts,
and London. Global Atlantic was founded in 2004 at Goldman Sachs and entered
the Life and Annuity market by acquiring Commonwealth Annuity and Life
Insurance Company (formerly Allmerica Financial) in 2005. Global Atlantic
completed their separation from Goldman Sachs on April 30, 2013. For more
information, please visit www.globalatlantic.com
__________________________________
This announcement does not constitute or form part of an offer to sell or
solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for securities in the United
States or in any other jurisdiction.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to future
events and circumstances. Such statements are based on currently available
operating, financial and competitive information and are subject to various
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and developments to
differ materially from the historical experience and expressed or implied
expectations of AAA. Undue reliance should not be placed on such
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the
date on which they are made and AAA does not undertake to update its
forward-looking statements unless required by law.
About AP Alternative Assets
AP Alternative Assets was established by Apollo and is a closed-end limited
partnership established under the laws of Guernsey. Apollo is a leading global
alternative asset manager with 22 years of experience investing across the
capital structure of leveraged companies. AP Alternative Assets is managed by
Apollo Alternative Assets, L.P. For more information about AP Alternative
Assets, please visit www.apolloalternativeassets.com.
^1 On a combined statutory basis.
Contact:
AP Alternative Assets
New York
Barry Giarraputo, +1-212-515-3478
or
Press
New York
Gary Stein, +1-212-822-0467